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Wednesday, September 8, 2010

This past weekend was a long one here in the US, due to the Labor day holiday. Typically this would have meant some work on miniatures, or painting, or possibly work on the house, but the family and I went to Santa Cruz to visit some relatives of my wife.

While visiting, we did get three games of Settlers of Catan in. Two regular games, and one with the multi player expansion to allow for six players. There was talk of Cities and Knights, but we did not get around to it. In any case, I did not win, but I was not doing too poorly either. Settlers is a great game, but it can be a little frustrating if your initial placement does not work out as well as you planned, or if the dice turn on you... much like a wargame in that regard.

I also had the opportunity to drop in on the local game store, Game-a-Lot Hobby, which is a fairly even mix of RPGs, miniatures, and board games. I like to browse "local" stores, because they often have slightly different games than you read about online, and there are fewer surprises when you hold a box in your hand. They had the issues of White Dwarf that I did not get, and had an advance copy of the Castle Ravenloft board game, which seems pretty large. The cashier said that it was something like Descent, which she did not really like, but was willing to play again. The store also had a selection of Heavy Gear rules and miniatures, which was completely surprising, considering its comparative obscurity once they shifted to 1/144.

Friday, September 3, 2010

I got my first issue of the new subscription to White Dwarf this week. White Dwarf, for those few of you not in the know, is the Games Workshop house magazine, which features their three main game systems (WH40k, WHFB, LotR), and some hobby content (mostly painting and simple conversions). For some reason, I got a 14 month subscription, which is a nice bonus, probably due to the conversation I had with the mail order troll, in which it was revealed that they had lost my account information, and thus had never contacted me for renewal. (they sent me some back issues also)

In any case, I have been getting WD for the past 10 years at least, and have every issue back to fall of 1996 or so, which is pretty good. The magazine has certainly changed in that period, mostly as GW itself has changed. The hobby content has waxed and waned, and the number of game systems has changed too, as the various specialist games were introduced, faded, and were replaced, and as LotR was added. Rules in the magazine were banished for years, to only just now make a reappearance. It is also a fairly costly subscription, with yearly subscriptions now up to $80, and "freebies" now long gone.

Still, I like the magazine, and its high quality glossy photography. My wife and I thumb through it together at bed time, and then I read it, and set it aside, mostly forgotten. I still remember some articles though, and with my stack of past issues, I can track down a number of useful hobby/painting guides if needed. So for now, the subscription continues. I will try and post a bit about this issue sometime soon.